Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Chemistry / Duy H. Hua / The first part of this thesis deals with the syntheses of ovalicin and its analogues. Ovalicin inhibits the endothelial cell proliferation. Apart from being anti-angiogenic it also exhibits antibiotic, antitumor, and immunosuppressive properties. Unlike other syntheses, we started with an acyclic compound, ethyl propiolate (1.66). Our flexible route towards the synthesis used intramolecular Heck cyclization reaction to construct an appropriately functionalized 3-methylene-6-(tert-butyldimethylsilyloxy)cyclohexene (1.63) from 1.66 in four steps. A number of synthetic analogues were synthesized via this strategy. Upon selective epoxidation and dihydroxylation of 1.63, a mixture of diols (3S*,4R*,5S*,6S*)-6-(tert-butyldimethylsilyloxy)-1-oxaspiro[2.5]octane-4,5-diol (1.107) and (3S*,4S*,5R*,6R*)-6-(tert-butyldimethylsilyloxy)-1-oxaspiro[2.5]octane-4,5-diol (1.108) were obtained. Subsequent functional group transformations of diols 1.107 and 1.108 gave ketones (3S*,4S*,5R*,6R*)-6-(tert-butyldimethylsilyloxy)-5-methoxy-1-oxaspiro[2.5]octan-4-one (1.112) and (3S*,5S*,6S*)-6-(tert-butyldimethylsilyloxy)-5-methoxy-1-oxaspiro[2.5]octan -4-one (1.117). Addition of vinyl lithium to the ketones followed by functional group transformation gave ovalicin analogues. Several intermediates were subjected to biological activity test for inhibition of growth of T. brucei. Our synthetic efforts towards the synthesis of ovalicin are discussed. The second part of my thesis deals with the synthesis of different tricyclic pyrone (TP) analogues which inhibit the aggregation of Aβ peptides. Alzhemier’s disease (AD) is caused by accumulation of fibrillar amyloid deposits in the AD brain. We synthesized a series of tricyclic pyrone derivatives and evaluated their counteraction on amyloid toxicity. TP analogue, (5aS,7S)-7-[(1R) and (1S)-2-(N3-adenyl)-1-methylethyl]-3-methyl-1H,7H-5a,6,8,9-tetrahyro-1-oxopyranol[4,3 -b] [1] benzopyran (CP2) is nontoxic, small and permeable molecule prevents the death of human neuroblastoma MC65 cells that conditionally expressed SβC gene. We further found that CP2 ameliorates the toxicity and inhibits the formation of Aβ oligomeric complexes. Binding studies using surface plasma resonance and atomic force microscopy studies suggest that CP2 permeates into the cells and interacts with Aβ peptides and inhibits the Aβ oligomerization. To understand the mechanism of Aβ aggregation and toxicity, CP2 and its derivatives are synthesized to evaluate their action. The key intermediate in the synthesis of CP2 is (5aS*,7S*)-7-[(1R*) and (1S*)-2-bromo-1-methylethyl]-3-methyl-1H,7H-5a,6,8,9-tetrahyro-1-oxopyranol[4,3-b][1] benzopyran (2.9), which in turn can be prepared from our previously reported method. Our aim is to synthesize a series of compounds and investigate the biological activities of different TP analogues.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Chemistry / Duy H. Hua / The objectives of this research project were to (i) synthesize different bicyclic and tricyclic pyrone and pyridinone compounds; (ii) study the mechanism of action of these compounds in solution as anti-Aβ (amyloid β) agents using different biophysical techniques; and (iii) study the biological activity of pyrone compounds for the counteraction of Aβ toxicity using MC65 cells, a human neuroblastoma cell line and 5X- familial Alzheimer’s disease (5X FAD, a transgenic mice with five different mutations) mice. A series of tricyclic pyrone and pyridinone compounds were investigated. The tricyclic pyrones and pyridinones were synthesized utilizing a condensation reaction between cyclohexenecarboxaldehye (25) and 4-hydroxy-6-methyl-2-pyone (24) or 4-hydroxy-6-methyl-2-pyridinone (51), respectively. A tricylic pyrone molecule CP2 (2, code name) was synthesized and has an adenine base unit attached to the pyrone core. For structure activity relationship (SAR) studies, the adenine group of CP2 was replaced with other DNA base units (thymine, cytosine and guanine) and various heterocyclic moieties. Since nitrogen containing compounds often exhibit increased bioactivity and brain-penetrating abilities, oxygen atom (O5’) was displaced with a nitrogen atom in the middle ring of the tricyclic pyrone. A condensation reaction of pyrone 51 and 25 was carried out to give the linear pyranoquinoline (52) and the L-shaped pyranoisoquinoline (53). The neurotoxicity of amyloid-β protein (Aβ) is widely regarded as one of the fundamental causes of neurodegeneration in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Recent studies suggest that soluble Aβ oligomers rather then protofibrils and fibrils may be the primary toxic species. Different biophysical techniques including atomic force microscopy (AFM), circular dichroism (CD), surface plasmon resonance (SPR) spectroscopy, and protein quantification assays were used to study the mechanism of aggregation of Alzheimer Aβ peptide in solution. In search of potentially bioactive compounds for AD therapies, MC65 cell line was used as a screening model. Different tricyclic pyrone and pyridinone compounds protect MC65 cells from death. We studied the efficacy of CP2 in vivo by treatment of 5X FAD mice, a robust Aβ42-producing animal model of AD, with a 2-week course of CP2, which resulted in 40% and 50% decreases in non-fibrillar and fibrillar Aβ species respectively.